Brock & Salk: What do Seahawks do long-term at QB with Geno, draft?

The thought coming into the season was that Seahawks would be drafting their quarterback of the future next April. Then Geno Smith happened.

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The Seahawks acquired two first-round picks, two second-round picks, a fifth-round pick and three players – including a quarterback – from the Denver Broncos in the Russell Wilson trade this past offseason. Seattle used one first rounder, one second rounder and the fifth rounder it got from Denver, but the Seahawks are set to enter the 2022 draft with two picks each in the first and second rounds.

Because Seattle didn’t draft a quarterback this past April, it was expected that it would use one of the two first rounders on a quarterback in April, especially since one figured to be an early pick with expectations for the team so low for 2022.

The Hawks still figure to have an early first-round pick with the Broncos (3-6) struggling, but the Seahawks (6-4) are in first place in the NFC West heading into their Week 11 bye. Smith has been a big reason why as he’s easily been one of the 10 best quarterbacks in the NFL this season.

Smith is signed to just a one-year deal, though, and the Seahawks may not have two first-round picks in the same draft for quite awhile. So should they look at drafting a quarterback early? Or should they try and re-sign Smith and let him run the show for the next few years?

All that and more were key topics of discussion during Monday’s Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports 710 AM. Here’s a bit of what Brock Huard and Mike Salk had to say during the fourth and final hour of Monday’s show.

“There’s risk in going in either direction, right? If you sign Geno Smith, you are betting the farm that Geno is going to be better than a high draft pick this year,” Salk said. “If you don’t and you go with the draft pick, you’re betting on a college kid who doesn’t necessarily have any sort of an NFL resume showing up because he’s more quote-unquote ‘talented’ and (would be) outperforming Geno Smith, who’s currently doing it at an NFL level. That’s the decision that (Seahawks general manager) John Schneider and (coach) Pete Carroll are gonna have to make.”

Huard noted that many high draft pick quarterbacks either struggle outright or take one or multiple years to develop into players who justify their draft position. One quarterback who did play well early and wound up leading his team to a Super Bowl in just his second NFL season is Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals. Burrow was the Heisman Trophy winner in 2019 and No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

“There is no Joe Burrow in this draft class. I’ll say that definitively right now,” said Huard, a college football analyst for FOX Sports, later adding, “(Ohio State’s) C.J. Stroud is not Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow’s senior year at LSU was the greatest in the history, statistically, of college football. And he’s 6 foot 4 and has a better arm than Stroud, a better arm than (Alabama’s) Bryce Young (with) much better size than than either of those guys as well.”

Finding a quarterback who can succeed fairly early “can happen,” Huard said. But it’s not the most likely scenario, and it may not fit on this Seahawks team.

“To think that this team that’s building all of this goodwill and all this experience together, and all these rookies that are growing with Geno and with (offensive coordinator Shane Waldron) and this system, and all of a sudden you’re gonna draft somebody next year in the top 10 and you’re gonna let Geno walk? I ain’t letting Geno walk anywhere,” he said. “… Every week that passes and he keeps playing and putting these numbers up, I think the dollar amount likely goes up. So I would love to see now a three-year deal with $30 million guaranteed, and that doesn’t destroy your (salary) cap.”

Re-signing Smith, Huard said, wouldn’t prevent the Seahawks from drafting a quarterback early if they fall in love with a prospect, noting Schneider was reportedly very high on star QBs Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes before they were drafted.

“You have to leave that possibility open to that if John identifies a young player that he thinks has that kind of talent, he’s got to be able to go out and get them,” Salk said. “But short of that, I think you’re right. I don’t want them just taking crazy risks. I don’t think they need to waste picks just desperately trying to find a quarterback if they have one that is succeeding right now.”

Salk also said he thinks Carroll may have felt “burned” about the idea of having a true star quarterback because of Wilson wanting out of Seattle after Carroll backed him and the organization paid Wilson so much throughout his Seahawks career.

“I think Pete at his core believes that he can win without one of the three best quarterbacks in the game. You need a good quarterback – you’re not going to win with ‘Checkdown Charlie’ – and you’ve got to have somebody who can complete passes and not turn the ball over and convert on third downs,” Salk said. “But I don’t think he feels like he needs a quarterback who can throw the ball 50 times a game and have everything revolve around him.”

Listen to the final hour of Monday’s Brock and Salk at this link or in the player below.

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